The opening day of the Rallye Casinos do Algarve (16-17 November) paved the way for an intense battle for the European Rally Trophy and the Portuguese Rally Championship.

Ricardo Teodósio leads the overall standings, having already established a considerable advantage over his closest rival, Armindo Araújo, who is currently down in seventh place.

Portugal’s José Pedro Fontes is in second position, the only competitor other than Ricardo Teodósio to have won a stage today, and currently leading the European Rally Trophy, ahead of the Czech Republic’s Ondrej Bisaha and five-time Madeira Rally champion Alexandre Camacho.

Among the contenders for the various European trophies, the main highlight is the ERT2 battle between the Portuguese Ricardo Costa and Russia’s Sergei Remmenik, with the two constantly trading places through the stages.

In ERT3, Miguel Correia (PRT) leads from Csongor Szabo (ROU), with Vaclav Dunovsky (CZE) already out of the rally following an accident in Alferce 1. Pedro Antunes (PRT) was also forced to retire from the opening day at Fóia 1, but he is pushing hard to be back in the fight tomorrow.

The ERT Junior class is now something of a foregone conclusion with both Diago Gago (PRT) and Enrico Oldrati (ITA) out of the Rally at Alferce 2.

The action continues this evening with the Super Special Stage from Lagos City Hall, ahead of what promises to be another closely contested day in the Monchique Sierra tomorrow.